UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from Reuters Investigates:
BP – Tough to price in the consequences
Two graphs tell an apparently conflicting story: analysts forecast a steady recovery in BP's dividends, but its valuation remains weak. Tom Bergin's close look at the potential costs facing BP as a result of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill helps explain the latter, but less so the former.
Best friends in the whole world, at least for now
Prime Minister David Cameron has spent the last few days playing down expectations of just how special Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States is.
He was afraid of being seen, like Tony Blair, as another American “poodle”, well aware that some aspects of the alliance have not played out in Britain’s best interest and also worried that the UK has to concentrate on forming strong ties beyond the U.S. to maintain international influence.
from The Great Debate UK:
Facebook group defends “harassed” BP
BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward branded “the most hated man in America” may be surprised to find himself cast in the role of victim by a growing clan of web-based supporters on Facebook.
One such group ‘Support BP’ calls itself the defender of an “undeservedly harassed institution” and seeks to show that the public opprobrium BP faces over its now 60-day-old Gulf of Mexico oil spill is not universal.
from The Great Debate UK:
Steve Tappin on what makes a CEO tick
Being a CEO should be one of the best jobs in the world, argue the authors of a new book.
"It offers the chance to make a real difference," Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave write in The New Secrets of CEOs: 200 Global Chief Executives on Leading.
Bumper profits for oil companies – worth picking a fight?
It is not surprising that many people find it thoroughly irritating to read headlines about oil companies, such as Shell and BP, making bumper profits thanks to high oil prices while consumers pay ever more to heat their homes.
With crude oil prices having fallen to around $70 dollars from more than $147 in July even Chancellor Darling felt compelled today to say the recent drop should be passed on swiftly to the consumer,
Energy windfall tax — lifeline or legalised piracy?
A union leader has called for a windfall tax on oil companies after BP reported a big rise in profits.
Supporters say this “Robin Hood” tactic would help hard-pressed households struggling to meet eye-watering energy and petrol bills.
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The Wall
